'Incredible Structure...'

28 September 2010

'Incredible Structure...'

Seville. Load in day.

The sense of relief amongst the crew was palpable when they headed to load in under blue skies and sunshine. There was even a suitably cooling breeze thrown in so everyone will have a chance to dry out all their rotting and mildewed equipment. I came into the stadium with them. I hadn€™t seen the early part of a load in for quite a while and seeing the structure in a state of undress is a good reminder of the scale of the task that these people now undertake so (apparently) effortlessly on a daily basis.

I don€™t often get a chance these days to look at the system in the dark (other than during shows, which is hardly an ideal time for making tweaks and changes). The crew are getting the stage in and up so quickly these days that the vast majority of them are out of the building before darkness falls, so when I want to do this it means asking people to stay on for a few extra hours. They are always happy to oblige but even so I try to get in their way as little as possible and not break the routine. Due to a general strike in Spain tomorrow the entire crew has a full day off prior to show day on Thursday, so I figured it wouldn€™t be too much of an imposition to ask a few people to stay on a little later tonight. It was a productive evening. It€™s always valuable to have the stage and show system to ourselves in the dark, particularly when the show is continuing to develop and change as it has been. On an outdoor stadium tour quite often the only time I get to see the system during hours of darkness is during the shows, which is not necessarily the best time to attempt any programming.

Tonight also gave me a chance to spend a little time alone with this incredible structure. Even I still get moments when I can€™t quite believe we€™re doing this €“ taking this startlingly huge object and, seemingly effortlessly, moving it around the world.